Comparing "dasuan" and "jihua"

打算 (dǎsuàn) and 计划 (jìhuà) are both verbs as well as nouns that mean “to plan” or “to intend”. 打算 is used in informal speech and writing, whereas 计划 is used in formal situations. A key difference between these words is 打算 expresses that a thought or idea to do something exists, but concrete steps or a firm action plan has not yet been finalized, whereas 计划 expresses a thought or idea to do something which not only exists, but also already has a concrete action plan in place to carry out the idea.

B1HSK4ASV4567

	打算 (dǎsuàn)	计划 (jìhuà)
Meaning	to plan, to intend; vague plans	to plan, to intend; a concrete plan
Part of Speech	verb, noun	verb, noun
Formality	informal	formal

:Yes

打算 and 计划 can often be used interchangeably

Common Phrases

In the following examples both 打算 and 计划 can be used.

• 有什么 ～ ？ Yǒu shénme ～ ？ What's the ~?
• ～ 好了 ～ hǎo le it's okay
• 有没有 ～ ？ Yǒuméiyǒu ～ ？ Is there any...?
• 没有 ～méiyǒu ～there is no ～
• 有 ～yǒu ～there is ～

打算 is common in spoken Chinese for talking about vague plans

This is exactly the word you want when talking about fluid, indefinite weekend plans. You don't have a detailed itinerary with priority rankings for your weekend activities, right? And everything could change last minute, right? Use 打算.

计划 often involves long-term future goals

These are the kinds of serious plans related to work, academics, and government policies. Setailed itineraries and timetables with priority rankings and Gantt charts are all on the table when you use 计划.

Common Phrases

• 研究 计划yánjiū jìhuàresearch plan
• 学习 计划xuéxí jìhuàstudy plan
• 一份 计划yī fèn jìhuàa plan
• 做 计划zuò jìhuàto make a plan
• 计划 未来jìhuà wèiláito plan for the future
• 计划 生育jìhuà shēngyùfamily planningbirth control

Sources and further reading

Websites

• HiNative: "打算" 和 "计划" 和有什么不一样?

打算和计划的区别 https://site.douban.com/211595/widget/notes/13480437/note/389249782/

打算,计划 https://www.kekeshici.com/hanyuweb/tongfanyici/24565.html